Chinese Central Bank Calls Off Digital Credit Card Business

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the Chinese central bank, reportedly released a notice to suspend the digital credit card businesses together with mobile payment services enabled by scanning the QR codes (source in Chinese).

Despite the innovations in QR code payment technology, it also brings information and capital security concerns for the customers. Virtual credit card is still a pre-matured business in terms of user identification and capital security, according to the PBOC.

The heat for digital credit card business was at full strength in Chinese Internet arena this week as both AliPay Wallet and WeChat Payment, the mobile payment arms of Chinese Internet giants Alibaba and Tencent, announced on Tuesday that they planned to explore this sector together with China CITIC Bank.

This notice will also affect the existing on-site payment services offered by the two mobile payment solutions for services like mobile on-site payment in bricks-and-mortar stores, vending machine at subways, etc.